My prediction of a six day work week came true, plus some.

Pepa's sister had called me, complaining about the weeds on their farm about a week ago. I had moved the tractor and plow there and began to plow, only to have the recurring heating problem with the tractor and on my very first pass I broke a shank on the plow.

I immediately went to the barn and changed plows because it was after noon on Saturday and all the implement dealers were long gone. I brought the new DCIII plow back, but it was far from field ready. And as my luck would have it, the operator's manual was not in the plow. I messed with it a while and was very pleased with the wings plowing, but very dissatisfied with the center section. Ultimately I had returned to the barn and got the spray rig and mixed a load of roundup and ammonium sulfate.

That was when I discovered the guidance system had gone on the blink, so I ran out that one load "freehand". No foam markers, no guidance, just sitting up there and gauging the distance between passes.

I finally put the Wishek offset plow on the tractor and plowed the worst areas around Melba and Garland's old hog pens and behind their barn.

John Deere was wanting to come and work on the engine heating problem with the tractor on Monday. I told them it was not a good day to mess with it because the weather was very cool and damp. They insisted. They told me they thought I was running the big tractor on the lean side. I beg to differ. I told the service manager I am not an idiot.

The winds on Monday were not conducive to spraying on their place on Monday, so I moved the sprayer to another farm. I left a gap between a neighbor's winter wheat and where I began spraying. This was when the guidance problem with the borrowed system began. When searching for the signal to follow the sprayer would turn a full circle 260 degrees left or right until it picked up the line. Just as I finished the final tank, I began having a pressure issue. I finally parked it and asked the dealer to send his technician. Turns out there were two issues. One valve was turned the wrong direction from their shop. The other issue was two plugs were switched on the Edrive valve. Once those were swapped, the guidance began working properly.

I have tried to spray any time the wind will allow me, primarily because I have added a quart of 2,4, D with the quart of Roundup and ammonium sulfate spike I am spraying. If the winds stay below twenty miles an hour, I will spray, taking wind direction into consideration.

Needless to say I haven't covered a whole lot of of acres.

On Friday I got one tank of chemical out before the winds hit twenty-two miles and hour. That was by mid morning so I headed to Snyder to pick up plow shanks for my hoeme. (Yes, the Aunt had raised her concerns again).

About four in the evening I did my A B line and began plowing. I plowed until almost two in the morning when I finally quit and went to Memama's to get something to eat, a shower, and a brief nap.

Saturday morning I woke about seven, made me a sausage biscuit and made Memema's coffee. Just before I was leaving she came in. She had no idea I was even there.

When I left there I picked up another hundred acres of chemical, just in case the winds cooperated (I already had enough for a hundred acres in my pickup). I went to the section knowing that sixty acres would probably finish the farm. I mixed my first load and checked my portable weather station. The winds were fifteen miles per hour. I sprayed it out and mixed the next load after checking my wind level. Sixteen miles per hour, By the time I finished spraying the last mix the winds had increased to over twenty miles per hour.

So, I at lunch and went to the Aunt and Uncle's farm to get on the tractor. Eight hours later I was headed home, their entire farm plowed.

I think the most frustrating thing for me is she said she could see no evidence of where I had sprayed. I say baloney. She pushed the issue and she got what she wanted. My advice now is to be careful what you wish for.

I am taking off today. I barely woke in time for early church.. I am fixing to get a nap and possibly catch a ride with a friend going to San Angelo and check on the little man down there. I haven't seen him since he was born.

Tomorrow I am going to move the spray rig to Wastella. I have a hundred acres out there that needs to be sprayed that had remained wet for a very long time. Any time I could get to it to plow it would rain again.

After that I have a hundred ninety seven acres of volunteer wheat to spray for Memama on her farm, then I am back to the streak or space I left at the section.

I would really like to see some sun shine and warmer weather to activate the chemicals so people can see that I did spray something other than water.

I've got a couple of issues with the big tractor. Of course the heating issue, which goes without saying, then A/C didn't want to work yesterday, and during the night Friday it jumped out of gear once with the gear shift (micro switch) still in gear.

Kind of makes me wonder if I should scrap the plans for getting a new farm pickup and trade farm tractor instead.

On Thursday when Memama and I went to Abilene, we did her hearing aid stops, went to CVS and got her a rewards card, then to Sam's, then took her car to the Cadillac house and they shuttles us to Golden Corral to eat. Almost two hours later they picked us up.

As we entered the dealership I looked at a pickup sitting right on the corner. Almost what I would like, but not exactly. On our way out we stopped to look it over. $56,000. Yikes!

Early church this morning. Sunday errands.

Time for a nap!

Have a day!

FATHER, I pray for relief from the wind that I can get caught up farming.